Even though Tesla’s stock price had a tenfold increase over the last five years and it has recently surged to new highs, Elon Musk predicts that it’s only the beginning.

The CEO now “firmly believes” that the stock has the potential for another tenfold increase “over the next five to ten years”.

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That’s an incredibly bold prediction for the CEO since it would make Tesla one of the most valuable companies in the world.

Based on the current share price, a tenfold increase would bring Tesla’s valuation to ~$500 billion – making Musk the richest man in the world in the process due to his ~22% stake in the company.

In comparison, Apple’s market cap is currently around $744 billion, Google’s is at $590 billion, and Facebook’s and Amazon’s are at close to $400 billion.

After the recent surge, Tesla already became the most valuable American automaker – surpassing Ford and GM (though briefly), but another tenfold increase would make it the most valuable automaker in the world – several times larger than Toyota’s ~$175 billion market cap.

Musk made this bold statement in a letter to ‘Tesla Grohmann’ employees obtained by Electrek this week. Tesla is offering them shares instead of the full raise they are asking for and he apparently wanted to sell them on the potential value (translated from German):

“Unlike other automotive manufacturers, each Tesla employee receives Tesla shares in addition to salary. These shares can be easily sold for money, but they also open up the possibility of earning much more through stock appreciation. The tenfold increase in our share price over the past five years has made shareholding exceptionally profitable for our Tesla employees. I firmly believe that we have the potential for a further ten-fold increase over the next five to ten years. That would make a total value of € 100,000 from the € 10,000 in stock.”

Musk seems to be betting on an important expansion of Tesla’s product lines to fuel growth. He referenced the updated lineup of vehicles in the same letter:

“After the Model 3, many other vehicle products will come, for which Tesla Grohmann will play a key role. To name just a few, which have already publicly announced (there will be many more): We are developing Model Y (an affordable mid-range SUV), a heavy-duty semi-trailer, a pickup and the next generation of the roadster sports car.”

Of course, that’s just for Tesla vehicles. The company also has its energy products, like solar roof tiles, Powerwall 2, and Powerpack 2.

Just like Tesla is a very different company now than it was 5 years ago, it will likely be very different in 5 years. Different enough to be one of the most valuable companies in the world? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.